LSPA 280A2 - Spanish for Animal Health and Care

There is increasing awareness of the need for basic, field-specific communication skills in Spanish on the part of animal science and veterinary graduates working with livestock workers and Spanish-speaking pet owners. Currently, between 80 and 90% of the workforce in livestock establishments is made up of Spanish-speaking immigrants with low English proficiency. It is imperative that the animal care/management professional acquire the skills to communicate directly with the workers in charge of animal care and handling.

The course develops intermediate-level communication skills in Spanish for students in animal care fields. It focuses on the specific terminology and the basic linguistic skills necessary to communicate about veterinary care and proper handling of animals (bovine, equine, and small animals). The course uses a task-based, communicative, and collaborative approach to language acquisition:

Students are engaged in interactive, online activities that simulate real-life, job-related linguistic interactions.

Students work in teams to accomplish specific job-related tasks using Spanish.

Class activities and assessments are task-based and proficiency oriented, minimizing the weight of traditional testing on the overall grade.

The communicative activities and all assessments are task-based and practical in nature.

Course materials consist of packages of video and audio recordings, interactive hands-on materials, a library of relevant images, and a corpus of authentic texts, from where all targeted vocabulary and grammatical forms are derived.

This course will enable students to:

Identify and describe common livestock, equine, and small animal breeds.

Describe body parts, and different areas of animal housing and care facilities using appropriate Spanish terminology.

Issue and follow basic instructions in Spanish for animal daily care and handling.